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Calgary Crime Group Linked to Fentanyl Lab, Drug Importation, Homicide

Published

6 years ago

6 minute read

A year-long investigation by ALERT has dismantled an alleged organized crime group operating out of Calgary. ALERT worked alongside the Calgary Police Service and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration  to link the group to numerous alleged criminal offences.

Project Arbour was an investigation by ALERT Calgary’s organized crime and gang team that uncovered a Calgary organized crime group’s alleged operation of a fentanyl and steroids lab; cross-border drug trade and Utah’s largest meth seizure; and the alleged role in the murder of Colin Reitberger and Anees Amr. Project Arbour concluded on February 15, 2018, when several Calgary homes were searched and arrests were made.

“I want to applaud all investigators and officers involved in Project Arbour for helping to keep Alberta communities safe. Thanks to the hard work of ALERT, CPS and their partner agencies, this year-long investigation has taken deadly drugs off our streets,” said Kathleen Ganley, Alberta Minister of Justice and Solicitor General. “Project Arbour is proof that ALERT’s cooperative approach to policing works.”

Project Arbour began shortly after 100 kilograms of meth was found in a vehicle occupied by three Calgary-area men in October 2016. The vehicle was stopped just south of Provo, Utah, and was part of an investigation by Utah Highway Patrol, DEA Los Angeles and DEA Salt Lake City. The seizure was described as the state’s largest meth bust and it is believed the drugs were destined for Canada.

Since the record seizure and arrest, ALERT has worked alongside the DEA to share intelligence and enforcement strategies. It is the investigators’ belief that the Canadians arrested were couriers and working for a Calgary-based organized crime group under the direction of Allistair Chapman. ALERT further alleges that the group was involved in the importation and exportation of drugs from Alberta, British Columbia, and the United States.

Meanwhile, north of the border, a suspected clandestine drub laboratory was located in Calgary as part of the investigation. A garage in the Rosscarrock area was allegedly being used to produce fentanyl and steroid pills. The RCMP’s Clandestine Lab Enforcement and Response (CLEAR) Team dismantled the suspected lab and, in the process, seized a functioning pill press, pill press punch dies, a 50-litre powder mixer, and more than 17 kilograms of various chemical powders.

The pill press seized was capable of producing an estimated 18,000 pills an hour and the dies bore the stamps familiar to fentanyl of “80” and “CDN”. The pill press was contaminated with fentanyl and submitted for destruction.

The RCMP CLEAR team was later utilized to dismantle a suspected cannabis resin manufacturing lab in the Cougar Ridge neighbourhood, where an additional 500 grams of suspected fentanyl powder was seized along with varying amounts of cannabis products.

A total of four search warrants were conducted during Project Arbour. In addition to the large quantities of drugs seized, investigators also seized five firearms – including two shotguns and three rifles – and body armour.

CPS has worked closely with ALERT on Project Arbour, as it is believed Colin Reitberger was killed because of his link to the drug trade and Anees Amr was an unintended target. Christian Ouellette was arrested weeks after the shooting in June 2017, and the 20-year-old is allegedly part of Chapman’s criminal organization. Project Arbour yielded evidence to suggest that Blais Delaire, another member of Chapman’s group, assisted Ouellette in obtaining the weapon used in the homicides.

Three other members of Chapman’s group were arrested as part of Project Arbour: Matthew Speirs, 24; Drew Mann, 25; and Bryan Livingston, 32. A total of 46 charges have been laid related to drug offences, conspiracy to import/export, firearms trafficking, and participating/instructing a criminal organization.

Project Arbour resulted in the following items being seized:

  • 5 firearms;
  • 18 kilograms of suspected fentanyl powder;
  • Pill press and dies;
  • 50-litre powder mixer;
  • 7 kilograms of methamphetamine;
  • 2 kilograms of cocaine;
  • 700 grams of heroin;
  • 8.5 kilograms of cannabis products; and
  • Two vehicles seized.

The powder substances have been submitted for complete chemical analysis and ALERT is awaiting the full results.

A number of partner agencies were involved in Project Arbour, including various teams within the Calgary Police Service and RCMP; RCMP Ridge Meadows; Alberta Sheriffs; Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA); Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC); and DEA offices in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Imperial County, and Vancouver.

Members of the public who suspect drug or gang activity in their community can call local police, or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Crime Stoppers is always anonymous.

ALERT was established and is funded by the Alberta Government and is a compilation of the province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources committed to tackling serious and organized crime. Members of the Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Lethbridge Police Service, Medicine Hat Police Service and RCMP work in ALERT.

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Alberta

Canadian pizzeria owner planning civil suit against gov’t officials over tyrannical COVID mandates

Published on November 18, 2023

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

They shut a man’s business down of 20 years, two families that depended on that, 30 people that were employed by the millions of dollars in taxes that I collected every year,’ Jesse Johnson said.

The owner of a popular Canadian pizzeria says he is planning a civil suit against government officials for a “travesty of justice” after enduring a prolonged legal battle on charges — that were just dropped — for defying COVID rules banning the vaccine free from eating at his restaurant.

On Wednesday, a City of Calgary court dropped all COVID-related charges against Jesse Johnson, who owned Without Papers Pizza, and in 2021-2022 refused to ask his customers for their vaccine passports so that he could serve “everyone.”

Johnson said when speaking with independent media reporter Mocha Bezirgan outside Calgary’s main courthouse Wednesday that he will be “pursuing a civil suit” against government officials and institutions that forced his restaurant to close.

“I plan on pursuing a civil suit, yes. It is a bittersweet irony what happened here today. My restaurant was shut unadjudicated,” Johnson said.

“They shut a man’s business down of 20 years, two families that depended on that, 30 people that were employed by the millions of dollars in taxes that I collected every year.”

Johnson said that the reason he got shut down was that he went against a system that discriminated against the vaccine-free, which was something he did not like.

“Because I did what? Because I chose to accept all and to extend my love to all the fine people of Calgary,” he said.

“A travesty of justice is what occurred? Really, truly a shame.”

Johnson said that he “hopes” and “prays” that his “brothers and sisters in the restaurant industry will stand up in the future and refuse to discriminate any of their customers for any reason whatsoever.”

“It’s the most difficult experience of my life. These bastards, they literally tried to break me. They tried to break me financially.”

Johnson praised “millions” of Canadians from coast to coast who came together to fight COVID dictates through various protests.

“Never give up hope. Never give up hope and believe in yourself. One thing I’ve learned across this journey is that the power of the human spirit is indomitable. And if there’s a mountain in front of me, that mountain shall move,” he said.

The Democracy Fund (TDF), which funded lawyers Martin Rejman and Chad Williamson in defense of Johnson, noted in a press release that the once-popular pizzeria was charged in October 2021 with “breaching multiple bylaws after its business license was suspended for not complying with public health orders and after undercover inspectors were permitted to purchase pizza and remain in the restaurant without providing proof of vaccination.”

“Among other things, the allegations against the pizzeria were that it permitted persons to enter and remain on the premises without proof of vaccination and that it did not display prescribed signage, all of which was contrary to bylaws passed by the City of Calgary,” the TDF noted.

Johnson’s charges being dropped came in the wake of a recent court ruling that declared certain public health orders effectively null.

At the end of July, Justice Barbara Romaine from Alberta’s Court of Kings Bench ruled that politicians violated the province’s health act by making decisions regarding COVID mandates without authorization.

The decision put into doubt all cases involving those facing non-criminal COVID-related charges in the province.

As a result of July’s court ruling, Alberta Crown Prosecutions Service (ACPS) said Albertans currently facing COVID-related charges will likely not face conviction but will instead have their charges stayed.

Danielle Smith took over from Jason Kenney as leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) on October 11, 2022, after winning the leadership of the party. Kenney was ousted due to low approval ratings and for reneging on promises not to lock Alberta down, as well as enacting a vaccine passport.

Under Kenney, thousands of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare and government workers lost their jobs for choosing to not get the jabs, leading Smith to say – only minutes after being sworn in – that over the past year the “unvaccinated” were the “most discriminated against” group of people in her lifetime.

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Alberta

All charges dropped against Canadian pizzeria owner who defied COVID vaccine passport mandates

Published on November 16, 2023

By

Jesse Johnson – Without Papers Pizza, Calgary

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Jesse Johnson, who owned Without Papers Pizza, claimed a ‘bittersweet’ victory in a prolonged legal battle against the City of Calgary

All charges have been dropped against the owner of a popular Canadian pizzeria who kept his restaurant open in direct defiance of COVID-19 health rules and refused to ask customers for vaccine passports so that he could serve “everyone.”

Outside a Calgary courthouse yesterday, Jesse Johnson, who owned Without Papers Pizza, claimed victory in a prolonged legal battle against the City of Calgary after a court dismissed all his COVID-related violation charges.

“Yes, it is a bittersweet irony what happened here today. My restaurant was shut unadjudicated, I was deemed guilty without going to a court of law,” he said when speaking with independent media reporter Mocha Bezirgan outside Calgary’s main courthouse Wednesday.

The Democracy Fund (TDF), which funded lawyers Martin Rejman and Chad Williamson in defense of Johnson, noted in a press release that the once-popular pizzeria was charged in October 2021 with “breaching multiple bylaws after its business license was suspended for not complying with public health orders and after undercover inspectors were permitted to purchase pizza and remain in the restaurant without providing proof of vaccination.”

“Among other things, the allegations against the pizzeria were that it permitted persons to enter and remain on the premises without proof of vaccination and that it did not display prescribed signage, all of which was contrary to bylaws passed by the City of Calgary,” the TDF noted.

Johnson did not hold back his disdain for Calgary officials who targeted his restaurant with COVID fines.

“They tried to break me mentally and they tried to break me spiritually. And they almost came close. If it wasn’t for the good people that joined me here today, the many who I fought with on the streets of Calgary,” he said.

Without Papers Pizza was forced into insolvency due to government COVID dictates.

Johnson said, however, that people need to learn how to “forgive” their oppressors as “Christ” commanded.

The TDF said that Johnson’s lawyers had argued in their constitutional application that the city bylaws in question “were implementing public health orders that were found to be invalid by judges of the Court of King’s Bench.”

“More specifically, the impugned health orders were held to be ultra vires the Public Health Act as they were made by the provincial cabinet as opposed to the Chief Medical Officer of Health, which is what the law required,” the TDF stated.

Johnson’s charges being dropped came in the wake of a recent court ruling that declared certain public health orders effectively null.

At the end of July, Justice Barbara Romaine from Alberta’s Court of Kings Bench ruled that politicians violated the province’s health act by making decisions regarding COVID mandates without authorization.

The decision put into doubt all cases involving those facing non-criminal COVID-related charges in the province.

As a result of July’s court ruling, Alberta Crown Prosecutions Service (ACPS) said Albertans currently facing COVID-related charges will likely not face conviction but will instead have their charges stayed.

Danielle Smith took over from Jason Kenney as leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) on October 11, 2022, after winning the leadership of the party. Kenney was ousted due to low approval ratings and for reneging on promises not to lock Alberta down, as well as enacting a vaccine passport.

Under Kenney, thousands of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare and government workers lost their jobs for choosing to not get the jabs, leading Smith to say – only minutes after being sworn in – that over the past year the “unvaccinated” were the “most discriminated against” group of people in her lifetime.

Smith made headlines last October after promising she would look at pardoning Christian pastors who were jailed for violating so-called COVID policies while Kenney was premier.

Unlike her predecessor, Kenney – who imposed vaccine passports, mandates, and lockdowns during COVID – Smith did vow she was not going to “create a segregated society on the basis of a medical choice.”

Thus far, in addition to Johnson, café owner Chris Scott, and Alberta pastors James Coates, Tim Stephens, and Artur Pawlowski, who were all jailed for keeping their churches open under the leadership of Kenney, have had the COVID charges against them dropped due to the court ruling.

Countless others have had smaller charges against them for going against COVID mandates dropped as well. However, there are still some facing charges relating to border blockade protests.

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